Rylie Sends a Girl to School

"I just have to brag a little and share the story of my daughter, Rylie. She is an 8th grader at Clinton Middle School. Rylie had a school project of researching and reporting on something that she had a passion for.

She researched several things on the internet and then found the Heifer International Send a Girl to School. She loved the idea of helping another girl across the world to go to school and have the opportunities that she has. Not only did Rylie report on this project - she raised money for this project.

Rylie did a brief report of Heifer at our church one Sunday morning and asked for donations from the congregation and then she held a volleyball tournament at her school during their RTI (Free hour) and charged everyone $1 to participate. She had 20 teams involved including a teacher team. Through both of these events Rylie raised $353.00. She not only had enough to send a girl to school for $275.00 she also put the balance to the Women Self Help Group.

I am so proud of her for going above and beyond to help with this amazing project."

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The end of hunger isn’t a fairy tale

Welcome to the Heifer family. Donors, volunteers, recipients and our teams around the world share a common goal: To end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. It’s a lofty goal, but we know it's achievable. Together we are the family that can create this change.

Togetherwe can makecows fly

See stories of how lives are being transformed around the globe through Heifer's work in more than 20 countries.

Many years ago, when my daughter was in Girl Scouts, she needed a service project. She chose to raise money to purchase an animal for a needy family through Heifer International. Months after that, we received their magazine. I saw a brief article in that magazine mentioning Heifer Project's upcoming Educator Tour to Honduras. I applied and surprisingly, I was chosen as one of two teachers from Iowa to go. I had a wonderful learning experience over about ten days in Florida and Honduras. Since then, Heifer International has had a near and dear place in my heart. People who have very little have the opportunity to work, receive animal(s), and improve their lives. They may be able to send their children to school, their health improves, they are encouraged to pass on the gift to others. Our Girl Scouts continued to help Heifer, as have my church family. Heifer International is a worthwhile non-profit organization!

For a couple decades, Sacred Heart Church of Enumclaw, Washington has supported Heifer during the Lenten season. But it wasn’t until parishioner Kathy told the pastoral assistant, Mathew Weisbeck, to have faith that they could raise an Ark that they set a goal of $5,000. That was 2006 and every year since the parish has raised or “floated an ark”, as Mathew likes to say. Over the years, numerous animals have visited during Lent to help raise funds for Heifer. Please click the title of the story to read how Sacred Heart Church has helped change lives with their Lenten project!

Interact Club sponsors a teacher Halloween costume competition each year at Washington High School in Washington, MO. Students bring in change and cash and vote for their favorite costumed teacher. The teachers are working together on small teams to raise money for a project they selected. This year the English teachers won and are sponsoring an irrigation project, and since Social Studies came in 2nd, they are sponsoring a pig. We were able to also purchase bees and chicks! It's a lot of fun for a good cause!

My congregation in Jesup, Iowa hosted our community-wide ecumenical Vacation Bible School this past August. We used a curriculum that taught the kids about Peru, so we decided to learn about South American animals and designate our VBS offering to go to the Heifer Project. To see how many llamas we could buy, we challenged the kids to buy one llama and by the 2nd day, we had enough for 2/3 of a llama. The kids got so excited about buying llamas that they brought more money each day, and by the end of the week, we had raised enough for four llamas!

Many thanks to Annie, Georgia, Julia, Sophia, Scarlett, Clare, Jade, and Olympia for hosting their annual Art Sale to help end hunger and poverty! Each Spring, Olympia and her friends support a charity with the proceeds they raise from their art sales and this year, they chose Heifer International! With the funds raised, they were able to purchase Honeybees, a Flock of Ducks, a Water Buffalo, Pig and a Sheep for families in need. Please read Olympia's letter to Heifer by clicking on the title of this story!

"Actually, we brought TWO beautiful 10-day-old calves to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Endicott, NY, to celebrate the kickoff of the beginning of our 5th year of partnership with Heifer International. They were a HUGE hit with young and old. All of the donations from the kids in our Religious Education classes, Grades 1 -5, are contributed to Heifer International. Over the years, that has added up to a almost $10,000, and 145 animals!" ... Please click the title of the story to read more about their awesome fundraiser!

"I was stuck indoors for a week during Hurricane Harvey and not being able to run (first world problems!) and thinking about how developing nations are devastated by natural disasters..." Please click the title of the story to read what inspires Miss Osuan to make a difference around the world!

During the Summer, our church children collected over $500 in coins for a Cow. They did this by taking up an offering from the congregation by using metal cooking pots and only accepting coins. It was called their "Jingle Pan Offering" This was in keeping with the Hebrew bronze funnel that collected the temple offerings, that noted the jingle of many coins from the wealthy, and often scorns of the few "jingles" from the poor.

In Oct. 1950, Pratt & Julia Byrd traveled to Germany with the Heifer Project to transport heifers to families in need while celebrating their Honeymoon in Europe! Please click this photo to read the article written by Mrs. Byrd.

For the 2017 "Build a Better World" summer reading program at the Verona Public Library in Wisconsin, kids who finished their reading log earned a brown sticker, which they placed on either a paper cow or two paper goats to vote for what they thought the library should choose. The Friends of the Verona Public Library donated the funds to purchase the winning animal, a cow!

"On Saturday, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet donated $5,000 to Heifer International. Heifer, in turn, will give animals to families in need to ease hunger and poverty. Heifer provides tools, training, livestock and partnerships that help families live with dignity and opportunity. Here, Sister Mary Anne Rodgers, left, and Sister Diane Zigo, center, present the check to Kate Sheehan, community engagement manager for Heifer Northeast." -Article and photo shared by timesunion.com

Cornerstone Community Church's first Annual Heifer International Mission Project was a success! The children of Cornerstone collected donations for the project for the whole month of June and received a wonderful $1,100. Last year, as part of the East Avenue UMC, the children collected over $5,000 which included a matching donation from a long-time church member. The children were excited to choose the items we were able to send to countries in need, which included a heifer, pigs, and chicks. Cornerstone hopes to collect even more in the years to come.

Each quarter students at Westminster Christian Elementary and Preschool in Miami Florida give money to a "noisy offering" collection to help other in our community and around the world. This collection takes place during our weekly chapel time where students are learning to love God and serve others. The last quarter of the 2016-2017 school year, the students were inspired by the work of Heifer International and how an animal can change a family's life. Each week we collected coins and dollars towards our effort to purchase animals for families in poverty. By the end of the 9 weeks we had raised $5,411.66!!! We are praying for the many families that will be changed by our donation. Thank you Heifer International!

"Dear Read to Feed, I love how you encourage kids to read by bringing money to school and your teacher sends it to you to buy and animal or something else. I think it is like the best idea EVER!! Thank you again!" -Jakey

Decked out in Heifer gear, Kim completed both a 5k & 10k at the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll series earlier this month! After the race Kim shared, "At the expo, Toyota was customizing race shirts by adding a 'I run for...' logo on the sleeves. When I asked for 'I run for Team Heifer,' the person asked what that was. With a line full of people, I got to explain in great detail what Heifer does! All were impressed by the sustainability aspect of it. They loved it wasn't a one-time consumable gift, but rather a lasting one." We congratulate Kim for all of the time she spent training, raising donations to help families overcome poverty, and for sharing Heifer's mission wherever her feet take her! We invite you to click the title of the story to see more photos of Kim in her gear!